Sirius XM Q1 Subscriptions Hit New Record As Jim Meyer Named CEO

Just so you’re not confused: Jim Meyer had been “interim” CEO beginning in December when Mel Karmazin left the top job at the satellite radio company controlled by Liberty Media. Now the job is formally his. The announcement comes as Sirius XM reported Q1 results that fell short of many analysts’ expectations. The company generated net income of $124.4M, +14.6% vs the period last year, on revenues of $897.4M, +11.5%. The Street thought that revenues would come in at $906M. And earnings at 2 cents per share were shy of forecasts for 3 cents. We’ll see whether investors are more worried about those misses than they are encouraged by the subscription numbers which were slightly ahead of forecasts. Sirius XM had 24.4M subs at the end of the quarter, up 9% vs a year ago. It also raised its free cash flow guidance and reiterated its projection to see total net subscriptions grow about 1.4M in 2013. “We continue to focus on profitable subscriber growth first and foremost,” Meyer says. “We are off to a great start for the year and are confident in achieving our guidance.”